Joao Simao wins record-breaking Triton Invitational event in Jeju

The Brazilian poker player Joao Simao survived a rollercoaster heads-up match to triumph in the latest Triton Poker Series event in Jeju, where the $200,000 Triton Invitational set a new record for entries by some distance.

Earlier this year, Adrian Mateos won the $200,000-entry Triton Invitational event in Montenegro for $6.37 million after outlasting 136 other entries. Today, Joao Simao topped an amazing field of 173 in Jeju, South Korea.

The final day began with 16 players left and Adrian Mateos among those challenging for the mammoth top prize. The Spaniard reached the money but crashed out in 14th place for $512,000 when his pocket jacks lost a coinflip to Emilien Pitavy's ace-king, with a king on the flop and another on the river sealing the Spanish pro's elimination.

Further eliminations for Teun Mulder (12th for $568,000) and Jesse Lonis (11th for $635,000) followed before the Austrian Pokercode co-founder Matthias Eibinger fell short of what would have been his eighth Triton title, busting in 10th for $635,000 when his ace-deuce was dominated by Simao's ace-king.

It was perfect timing for the Brazilian, as the final table began with Simao in charge of proceedings. Leading with 11.7 million chips from Yang Wang, who had 8.4 million, the Brazilian proceeded to dominate the early action. As he thrived, others fell. Eric Tsai (9th for $749,000) and Thomas Boivin (8th for $905,000) made early exits, with the Belgian Boivin's coming at the hands of $250k WSOP Super High Roller champion Seth Davies. The American outlasted the German pro Hannes Jeschka (7th for $1,237,000), Winfred Yu (6th for $1,693,000) and Pitavy, who fell to Biao Ding in fifth place for $2,245,000, but after Yang Wang lost a flip to Simao to exit in fourth for $2,820,000, Davies departed in third for $3,470,000.

Seven players had left the final in double-quick time, but the heads-up battle was to be anything but swift.

Simao wins ding-dong battle for trophy

The last two looked ill-matched in chip terms when the final duel began, but Simao's 2:1 heads-up lead quickly evaporated. A top-pair call from Simao reversed the opening stacks, but a timid bet from Simao gained an equally shy call from Ding as third pair beat fourth pair to level up the chip counts.

Both men performed heroics with marginal calls executed to perfection before the decisive hand played out. On a nine-high board by the turn, the Chinese player moved all-in with ten-nine and was snap-called by Simao with pocket kings. Only a nine would save the WPT legend Ding, but the river was a seven and with that card, Joao Simao was the champion, taking the largest prize of an incredible $34,600,000 prize pool. Banking the top prize of $7,250,000 and relegating Biao Ding to a runner-up prize of $4,940,000, Simao became the latest Triton champion.

Back in the summer, Simao won the $50,000 PLO High Roller Event #55 at the 2026 World Series of Poker for a top prize of $1.3m and his fourth bracelet. This latest victory only confirms him as one of the all-time greats in one of the biggest Triton events in history.

Triton Poker Series Jeju II 2026 $200,000 Invitational Final Table Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Joao Simao	Brazil	$7,250,000
2nd	Biao Ding	China	$4,940,000
3rd	Seth Davies	United States	$3,470,000
4th	Yang Wang	China	$2,820,000
5th	Emilien Pitavy	France	$2,245,000
6th	Winfred Yu	Hong Kong	$1,693,000
7th	Hannes Jeschka	Germany	$1,237,000
8th	Thomas Boivin	Belgium	$905,000
9th	Eric Tsai	Taiwan	$749,000